The business started in 1968 in the Sydney suburb of Artamon in a small rented premises beneath a car park in the Sydney suburb of Artarmon, New South Wales with a total capital of only AU$610. Initially, the business focused on installing and servicing car radios. In 1969, the business's success required it to move to bigger premises on the Pacific Highway in St Leonards.

Alongside the car radio business, Dick opened "Dick Smith Wholesale". The business catered to electronics hobbyists, meeting a need Smith (himself a keen hobbyist) had felt. In those days, hobbyists could only buy components from larger wholesale companies better setup for dealing with commercial customers. After touring overseas electronic stores to study modern merchandising methods, Smith introduced self-serve shopping and produced a mail-order annual catalogue with a substantial data section. To ensure almost every electronic enthusiast in Australia had one of his catalogues, it was included free in the popular electronics magazines Electronics Australia and Electronics Today International. The catalogues included ever-increasing amounts of data on electronic components, which helped make it an essential reference for anyone involved in electronics professionally or as a hobby. This catalogue is no longer being produced, the last issue being 2009.

In 1980, the company had grown to 20 stores and the company's working capital was so much that he sold 60% of the company's working share to Woolworths Limited. Smith sold the balance to Woolworths in 1982 and it took full ownership of the company.[2] The company continued to add to its network of small "main street" stores in suburbs and regional cities across Australia.

On 31 January 2012, after nearly 30 years of ownership, Woolworths Limited announced that after the results of a strategic review and a $300 million restructuring, it would close up to 100 Dick Smith stores and sell the business.[3] At the time, Smith, who was still a part of the company in a minor role, was concerned that the company would be sold to a foreign investor. Smiths fears were unfounded as later in the year the company that purchased Dick Smith was the Australian investment firm Anchorage Capital Partners.[4]

On 4 December 2013, Dick Smith became a public company.[5] Formerly it was 98% owned by private equity firm Anchorage Capital Partners (the remaining 2% was owned by some board members and senior management) which acquired it on 26 November 2012, from Woolworths Limited, which owned it from 1982 until the end of November 2012.

From 1 October 2013, Dick Smith took over the operation of the home entertainment department in 30 David Jones retail stores in Australia and online. The venture was created by the use of a Retail Brand Management Agreement (RBMA). The RBMA allowed Dick Smith to economically extend its network of stores and operate under the banner ‘David Jones Electronics Powered by Dick Smith’. The agreement includes televisions, computers, tablets, home office, audiovisual and other digital products, but not whitegoods or small appliances, which will continue to be sold by David Jones, with employees and inventory transferred over to Dick Smith.[6] In 2014, following the first anniversary of the opening of the first store, in response to high sales, Dick Smiths plan expand the offerings available to include more high-end items such as 4K high-definition TVs and pricey audio brands such as Bose.[7]

In December 2014, Dick Smith announced the launch of the Dick Smith Trade Me store at. Trade Me is an online marketplace based out of New Zealand with over 3.5 million members. New Zealanders will now be able to purchase their favourite technology products such as computers, phones, accessories, TVs and gaming directly from Dick Smith through their existing Trade Me account.[8]

A Dick Smith Wizzard – a combination computer/video game console that was rebranded and sold through the stores

The company profited from the CB radio boom of the 1970s[9] and by the end of the decade had stores in all mainland states. Though many CB radio stores closed when interest waned from the early 1980s, Dick Smith Electronics survived thanks to strong sales in other areas. These included its established electronic components and kit lines, Yaesu amateur radio and Uniden-Bearcat scanners.

The company expanded its product range, especially during the 1970s and 1980s and stocked items such as the Heathkit electronic kits, satellite TV receiving stations, Beeple pagers and the Dick Smith Wizzard computer game. The company was an early seller of telephone equipment including answering machines, cordless and novelty phones.

The logo used for Dick Smith PowerHouse stores before the branding was discontinued in 2009

The late 1990s saw the company establish "Dick Smith Electronics Powerhouse" super-stores across the east-coast of Australia. The first PowerHouse store was opened in Bankstown, New South Wales, in 1996.[12] These were several times bigger than regular stores at approximately 2,000 square metres (22,000 sq ft) and contained departments for the main product categories and supermarket-style checkouts. The "Powerhouses", as they were known, carried a wider range of products than the smaller DSE stores, especially in the computing, audio-visual and amateur radio areas, and introduced Music to the range. Some installation services were also introduced as well as Computer repairs and upgrading.

In 2002–2003, the Powerhouse concept changed to focus on a broader consumer market and less towards electronics enthusiasts. Component ranges shrank and general electronics books ceased to be stocked. The Yaesu dealership was relinquished, ending a 27-year partnership. Electronic Kits were transferred to the smaller DSE stores and were replaced by small appliances such as kettles, coffeemakers, toasters and frypans which were removed in late 2008. In late 2007, Powerhouse stores also transferred many other small components, tools, leads and connectors continuing to distance the super-stores from the company's roots.

In 2007, Dick Smith Powerhouse stores introduced a home installation service known as "PowerSquad" to install major items such as TVs and Computer systems or to provide set-up and training on smaller items such as wireless networks and MP3 players.[13] The Powerhouse name was retired in 2009 as part of the company's re-branding. These stores are now known internally as Dick Smith "Large Format". The home installation service was relaunched in 2009 as "Mobile Techxpert Services" and again as "Clever Dick" in 2012, inline with the company's new branding.[14]

Hornsby DSE, housed inside Westfield Hornsby, was the first store to be renovated under the new concept

In early 2008, following Woolworths' review of its consumer electronics division, Dick Smith Electronics renovated its flagship store in Hornsby, New South Wales, as a "concept" under the branding "Dick Smith Technology". The store's design and product range was completely reworked incorporating a more modern feel while removing all electrical componentry and much of its tools. These products were replaced with a larger range of computers, gaming, televisions and Macintosh computers, much of which had previously been only sold in Powerhouse stores.

Inside the first Dick Smith concept store Hornsby DSE following its rebranding as Dick Smith Technology

Following further strategic review, the company decided to push forward with the new concept under the reworked "Dick Smith – Talk to the Techxperts" branding, merging all existing Dick Smith Electronics and Powerhouse stores under the same banner. In late 2008 the new Dick Smith logo (designed by Hoyne Design) and format was rolled out with many Powerhouse stores such as Macquarie Centre and Auburn being rebranded to fit the new unified company logo.[15] Powerhouse stores also cleared the majority of their small appliance lines in favour of electronic gadgets, toys and health devices with a new line of exercise equipment introduced to selected stores in early 2009. While some stores still remain semi-branded or full branded as Powerhouse, the advertising of this brand has discontinued and these stores are pending store refits to update the branding.

As of 2012[update] Powerhouse style stores, now "Large Format Stores", opened in Chadstone Shopping Centre and Bendigo in Victoria, Marion, South Australia, Perth central business district, Innaloo and Rockingham in Western Australia, Hobart in Tasmania, and Stockland Rockhampton in Queensland, under new "Dick Smith – Talk to the Techxperts" branding. The new format stores had a refreshed look and logo, carried a similar range as all other Powerhouse stores minus the electrical components, plugs and sockets, with more of a focus on technology such as computers, entertainment and communications. In March 2009, Woolworths Limited CEO Michael Luscombe confirmed the end of Powerhouse as a separate entity, also adding that the company's third consumer electronics brand Tandy would gradually phase out over the next three years as the stores' leases ended. This phase left "Dick Smith" as the sole brand in the company's consumer electronics division.[16]

Dick Smith Electronics has also long been known for its "home brand" range of electronics which fall under the brand name "Dick Smith" (formally called DSE, a commonly used abbreviation of Dick Smith Electronics). Although initially, in the 1980s, DSE branding focused on phones, telephony equipment and some components, the brand has since expanded into a large range of various electronic devices and components with less focus on telephony. In 2007 the DSE brand produced a wide range of products including portable DVD players, TV set-top boxes, aerials, AV receivers and amplifiers, NiCad and NiMH Rechargeable batteries as well as alkaline and lithium batteries, digital cameras, speakers, flash-memory devices, UHF radios, webcams and Ethernet, Crossover, USB, Composite AV, Component AV, 240V AC cables.[17]

A number of the DSE brand products were re-branded products from third party manufacturers and are often sold alongside their original manufacturers version of the product. An example of this is DSE's SD card range which are manufactured by A-DATA and sold alongside A-DATA's own SD cards in many stores. Other Dick Smith house brands were Shimasu, Digitor and Koolshades, the 1990s youth brand.

At one stage the company was promoted through its annual catalogue, wacky ads and publicity stunts. For example, Smith claimed that he would tow an iceberg from Antarctica to Sydney Harbour, cut it up into small bits and sell it for 10 cents a cube. On the morning of April 1, it appeared as if he had succeeded as hundreds of phone calls began flooding into local radio, television stations, and newspapers reporting the iceberg, most of which were from Dick Smith employees. However, he instead towed a man-made iceberg, constructed on a barge, with a big sheet of white plastic and fire-fighting foam as an April Fool's joke.[21]